Four Israelis have been killed in a shooting attack near a settlement in the occupied West Bank, paramedics say.

Four others were wounded, one of them seriously, when two Palestinian gunmen opened fire at a petrol station and restaurant on a highway outside Eli.

The Israeli military said one gunman was shot dead by an armed civilian, while the second apparently stole a vehicle and fled the scene.

He was later shot and killed by Israeli security forces in the town of Tubas.

Defence Minister Yoav Gallant described the shooting as a terrorist attack.

It follows heightened violence across the West Bank in recent days.

In Tuesday’s attack, the two gunmen arrived in a car and opened fire at people at the petrol station and inside a nearby hummus restaurant.

A paramedic with the Magen David Adom (MDA) ambulance service, Motty Dahan, said in a statement that when he and his colleagues arrived at the scene they saw a “complex site”.

“Seven victims had gunshot wounds, some in the gas station and some in a nearby restaurant,” he added.

“We performed medical checks and began providing medical treatment, three of the victims were evacuated in MDA MICUs [Mobile Intensive Care Units] to hospital, and unfortunately four of the victims were pronounced dead.”

The number of Israelis killed was the highest since an attack by a Palestinian outside a synagogue in occupied East Jerusalem in January, when seven died.

This shooting comes a day after six Palestinians, including a teenage boy, were killed and more than 90 wounded in a raid by Israeli forces in the northern West Bank city of Jenin. Several Israeli soldiers were also wounded.

Overnight, another Palestinian man was killed by Israeli army fire near Bethlehem, in the southern West Bank.

Since the start of the year, more than 160 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces or settlers in the occupied West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip. The figures include militants as well as civilians.

In addition, 27 people on the Israeli side have been killed – including two foreigners and a Palestinian worker – in attacks or apparent attacks by Palestinians. All were civilians except one off-duty serving soldier and a member of the Israeli security forces. (BBC)

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